Posts Tagged Plan

We ran for Boston today – a run at lunch with a friend and a run tonight with the local running store. Runners throughout the world are adding up the miles dedicated to those affected by the tragedy. In a way, this is our prayer. We run for those who can’t, we run to show support, we run because it feels right. And as we run, we meditate on lives lost, but more importantly on the amazing show of humanity and love in the outpouring of support that has surrounded and lifted up those affected in Boston. We will continue to run and we will be strong.

This Sunday is the Kansas Half Marathon, and with everything that has happened, it will have a little bit different meaning for every runner who is there. I will be wearing the Runners United to Remember bib as I attempt to reach a new PR.

I am still working toward breaking that 2:00:00 barrier, so I am aiming to get closer with this race. My previous PR of 2:16:43 was at the Kansas City Half in October. Despite being a PR, it was not my best race, and I believe I can greatly improve on the time. My hope is to finish close to 2:05 and my plan to achieve that is to start running with the 2:10 pace group to warm-up and then increase speed after mile 6 of the race to attempt to catch the 2:05 group. My goal time is 2:06 (10 minutes faster than my PR) and my stretch goal is anything faster than 2:05. I would be ecstatic if I managed to break 2:00, but I’ve never yet managed to sustain the pace required for that amount of time, so not sure I’m there yet.

The weather should be perfect for running on Sunday morning, starting with temperatures in the mid-40s and rising to no higher than 65 that day. I’m planning to wear capris and a tech t-shirt with a long-sleeved quarter-zip to begin the race. I’m going to carry my own water and Honey Stinger Pink Lemonade gummies for my race day nutrition. On my long runs, I’ve been practicing taking one chew about every mile starting around mile 3, and it’s worked pretty well for me, so I’ll stick with that for this race. Here’s my packing/wearing list for Sunday:

Boston remembrance bib

Fuel belt & water bottle

Honey Stinger Pink Lemonade chews

Garmin watch and HRM

Running capris

T-shirt

Long-sleeved running shirt

Gloves & Hat/headband

Socks/Sports bra/Deodorant

Hair tie & Bobby pins

RoadID

Brooks PureFlow shoes

Cellphone & $$

Banana & Almond butter for breakfast

Change of clothes for post-race

My plan is to have everything laid out and ready to go Saturday night, so I don’t need to think about anything at the crack of dawn Sunday in time to leave the house by 4:50am to leave town by 5:00am. That will put us at the race start around 6:15am to pick-up our packets and have a nice cushion of time before race start at 7:30am.

The rest of this week’s training will be focused on tapering for the race on Sunday. My plan is to run an easy ~5 miles tomorrow afternoon, do a short but fast 2 miles on Thursday, full rest on Friday, and an easy 1-2 miles on Saturday to loosen up my legs. I’m also hoping to do a little yoga tomorrow or on Thursday. I’ve opted to skip the weights this week to avoid any unnecessary soreness on Sunday. My other major goal for this week is to get enough sleep. I’m off to a bad start, but my goal is to be in bed by 10pm the rest of the nights this week.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, so I may update this post as I think of other aspects of the race that I need to worry about.

Do you have any races planned? Do you write a race plan ahead of time?

This weekend, I have a 5K race on Saturday (Dog-N-Jog) and a relay race on Sunday, in which I’m running two legs for about 9 miles total. Both races are more “for fun” than major goals for me. I’m very tempted to go for a PR on my 5K at Dog-N-Jog, but knowing that the start will be insane with all the people and pooches, I think it is more important to just enjoy the event without setting any race specific goals. My major goal for the Brew to Brew relay race is that the day goes smoothly and everyone gets to the exchange points on time!

Thursday

I’ve toyed with the idea of going to the gym in the morning to lift, but I think I am going to prioritize sleep over an extra workout this week. My plan is to do a light 3 mile run around the neighborhood right after class ends in the afternoon. I want to leave plenty of time to get my studying done so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Friday

Classes don’t start till 9am on Friday morning, so I should have time to fit in a short yoga routine to stretch and loosen up in advance of the race Saturday morning. Otherwise, my time will be spent in class in the morning and then an exam in the afternoon. Packet pickup should begin by the time I get out of my exam, so I’ll grab my bib/chip before I leave school. Then, Friday afternoon/evening, I’ll prep everything for the 5K and lay out my running clothes and Tara’s gear:

Timing Chip/Bib

Leash/Collar

Poop bags

Water bottle(s)/bowl

Heart rate monitor/Garmin

RoadID

Running shoes

Socks

T-shirt/Capris/Sports bra

+/- Race belt

Hat/Sunglasses

Sunscreen!

ID badge

Saturday

The race doesn’t start till 9:00am, so I have plenty of time if I get up by 7am to eat breakfast and be out the door by 8:15am. That should put me at the race start early enough to do a quick warm-up and hit the bathroom before lining up. Last year, I think the race started a little late, but they’ve enlisted the help of Manhattan Running Company to do the timing this year, so I’m hoping we start right on time. As I mentioned, I’m not setting a goal time, but I expect to be done in around 30 minutes give or take depending on how congested the start is. After the race, I need to remember to stretch well so I’m not stiff/sore for Sunday. I might take a short nap before getting packed and ready to head out to Lawrence, KS for the night.

Packing list:

Change of clothes and shoes for after the race on Sunday

Neon green tech shirt, sports bra, and long-sleeved shirt

Running capris and tights (just in case it’s colder than expected)

Rain jacket

Hat

Sunglasses

Sunscreen

RoadID

Garmin/Heart rate monitor

Race belt

Hydration belt

Water bottles

Snacks and Breakfast foods

Running shoes

Running socks

PJs for Saturday night

Toiletries

Small first aid kit for the car

Cooler

$$$

We’ll pick up a few of our teammates and head to Lawrence around 5pm to all have dinner around 7 or 7:30pm and a brief race meeting. Then it’s early to bed for a really early wake up call.

Our teams start at 6:00am Sunday morning, so we’ll need to meet at the race start to coordinate and get into the right vehicles by 5:30am. Once the first racers go off, we’ll start the crazy carpooling and driving around to exchange points to cheer in runners before moving to the next exchange point. I’m running legs 5 (4.8 miles) and 9 (4 miles) so I’ll have awhile in the car before my legs, and will need to eat around the time the race starts and probably snack after my first leg is finished. Hopefully the day will run smoothly and we should finish around lunch time. 🙂

This will be my first attempt at running two races in one weekend. The overall mileage is pretty reasonable, so I’m not too worried about the physical challenge. I do think this weekend is going to be just a little mentally exhausting, especially since I’m going to try and fit in studying anytime I have some downtime!

Yesterday, I had one of the best double-digit runs, ever. The weather started a little humid and mid-50s, but cleared up and the sun came out. I ran with the dog, Tara, as well as three other friends and two more dogs. We started on our usually long run route, but instead of doing an out-and-back as we usually do, we mixed it up and turned off at 5 miles to create a loop through town. It’s amazing how a few miles of new scenery can invigorate a long run. On my shorter runs I routinely switch directions and mix things up with new side streets, but on the longer runs I’ve been doing the same route for quite awhile so it made a huge difference to change the route so much.

I think I’ll try to come up with another couple of courses for double-digit runs over the next few months to keep things interesting. It is going to be even more important as I ramp up the mileage for…wait for it…marathon training! I finally committed and registered for the Richmond Marathon on November 16 in Richmond, Virginia. I am so excited at the prospect of finally tackling 26.2 miles! My friend, Caitlin, and my hubby are going to run it too, so I’ll have plenty of support in my training here in Kansas and my family in Virginia is already on board with being our support crew while we’re on the East coast.

With such a big race on the horizon, I would like to get back into the habit of setting regular goals throughout the year. I only set one goal for running for the year and that was to run 1000 miles, which I am a little behind on reaching with my current monthly totals (197.95/1000). Tomorrow is April 1st, so today seems apropos to start setting some monthly goals.

Goals for April

1. Run 100 miles in the month. I’ve run just under 200 miles for the year so far, so 100 this month will put me back on track for an even effort in the rest of the year for reaching my 1000 miles goal.

2. Do at least 1 day of weight lifting per week. I would like to start one of the New Rules of Lifting programs again. I’m leaning toward New Rules of Lifting for Women because I’m already familiar with all the moves, don’t need any new equipment, and they’re fairly short routines for the first few months while I’m still in school. My plan is to start by going to the gym this Tuesday during my long lunch break.

3. Prepare 1 new recipe per week. I really enjoyed finding new foods to try and meal-planning during my paleo experiment, and would like to continue adding some fresh new ideas to the repertoire.

4. Do at least 30 minutes of yoga per week. My flexibility is abysmal and running keeps me too tight, so I need to invest more time into stretching and flexibility. I think incorporating yoga into my routine will be a great way to accomplish this.

5. Research the possibility of an early summer triathlon. I’d like to find something to fill the gap between my half marathon training and the beginning of my marathon training. If I find a race that is within an easy morning drive, register and organize my training plan.

Do you have any tips for a first time marathoner? Do you set goals for yourself throughout the year?

Something I’ve struggled to learn is to be flexible enough to deal with unexpected and necessary changes to “the plan.” Even though I know in my brain that going out for a 20 minute run is better than doing nothing, it’s hard for me to break out of that mental block that I have failed my plan to run 5 miles or do intervals or hill repeats. Inevitably, in the past, I have ended up doing nothing and juggling other days to try and fit the missed workout.

Flexibility has clearly never been my strong suit, but sometimes life just happens and there’s no reason I should view it as my failing when I don’t make every workout exactly as planned. Plans don’t need to be set in stone, but rather, should be a guide that can be adjusted to meet my needs.

What is most important is that I keep moving forward, not dwell on minor diversions, and make do with the time available.

In my updated training plan, Mondays are for strength training and stretching, so I did a super-short strength routine and a 30 minute yoga routine at home before school this morning. To continue my experimentation with breathing patterns, I chose a DVD yoga routine that focused on breath work. It wasn’t my favorite routine. While the stretches were decent, they weren’t as extensive as I would have liked and the pace was much slower than I prefer. Also, it was primarily sitting and reclining poses, with no standing poses that I can recall, so there wasn’t much variety. I did think it was good to revisit my breathing and work on deep belly breathing without the added complexity of timing it with running, but I don’t think I’ll use this routine again.

For my newly added strength training component, I would really like to get back into weight-lifting. I used to lift fairly regularly, but got out of the habit and let running take over, including only the tiniest body weight strength training. Now that I’ve decided to only run 5 days a week, I think I can fit in at least one day of weights if I can go before school in the morning or during a lunch break in the afternoons. I hope to figure out a good way to work weights into my schedule to start next week. I think this will be a really important part of injury prevention moving forward.

In other news, I am about 99% sure I am going to register for a marathon in the fall, just not sure which one yet. I think it will likely be in October, which means I’ll have to start seriously training in June! That will be about 6 weeks after my half marathon this spring, so I’m also thinking that will be just enough time to squeeze in training for a sprint triathlon. The Topeka Tinman Triathlon is June 15 and has both Sprint and Olympic distance options that might work perfectly into that 6 weeks.

If you’re new to reading, you’re probably learning (especially after this post!) that I am extremely Type A about planning my training. Spontaneous workouts have never worked for me. I used to go to the gym without a plan and I would just wander around doing various exercises with no rhyme or reason. I was constantly discouraged because I never felt like I had any tangible results. I wasn’t improving in my lifting, in my running ability, or in my general fitness; but when I switched to creating a detailed plan for each day and tracking my progress, I was able to achieve my goals in training and see what I needed to work on when the goals were a little more elusive.

Now, I have a spreadsheet to track all of my workouts, which are already planned for the next 7 months (!) and entered in my Google Calendar. After each run or workout, I enter the details into the spreadsheet, which tracks my mileage for the week, month, and year. It even automatically calculates how many miles I’ve put on each pair of running shoes! I get immense satisfaction from inputting all my data, and it makes me really motivated to follow the schedule. I know I’m obsessive, please don’t judge! 🙂

Sometimes, I wish I were a person who could be more spontaneous – who could go out and just run as far and as fast as they can each time and improve, but I know I am not. I’m neither motivated enough to keep myself working without the accountability of my schedule, nor am I mentally tough enough to push myself enough to make progress. So for now, I’ll cling to my detailed training plans and love every second of preparing them and recording my progress.

Are you a planner or are you more spontaneous in your workout regimen?

It has been nearly a year since my last blog post. Wow. Time certainly does fly. School keeps me incredibly busy, but I am still running pretty consistently. I ran another half marathon in the fall, and I have several running races fast approaching this spring. The triathlon bug has bitten once again, so I’m thinking about signing up for a race or two this summer as long as the scheduling works.

The next race I have is Dog-N-Jog 5K/10K on April 6. This is the same race I did last year with my German Shepherd Dog, Tara. I’m leaning toward doing the 5K again this year instead of the 10K. The 5K course is being altered a bit so that it is closer to the correct distance, as last year it was a little short at only about 3 miles exactly. The next day, April 7, I’ve organized two teams for Brew to Brew, which is a 44 mile point-to-point relay race from Kansas City, MO to Lawrence, KS. We had two teams last year and it was a blast, so I’m really looking forward to doing this race again. I’ll be running two legs for a total of 8.8 miles. It will be a good warm-up for my next half marathon on April 21, the Kansas Half Marathon, which is the same race I did last spring.

In other news, I’ve been trying a more Primal-style nutrition plan in my daily life. I started a 30 day self-challenge on February 27, so I’m over half-way through. I will freely admit that I am pretty lenient in the dairy department, and usually eat one serving of dairy per day. I have had a few servings of indulgences, but not many overall and none in the first two weeks of the challenge. The biggest benefit so far is that I’m not as hungry all the time and between meals as I used to be. I also lost about 8 pounds within the first week. I’ve since evened out at about 5 pounds lighter than my starting weight. Since I was already happy with my weight, I’m glad the weight loss has stopped. The only downsides are the meal planning and the expense. It’s a lot more expensive to eat so many fresh veggies all the time, but I do think it’s healthier to eat more fruits and veggies. Meal planning does take a little more time than a more conventional diet, but I don’t think it’s prohibitive. I usually plan meals for the week on the weekend and do all my grocery shopping over the weekend. One other observation I made was that initially, I felt extremely thirsty all the time, but that’s no longer the case.

I haven’t noticed an extreme difference in energy levels or inflammation, so I don’t think grains have that much of an effect on me in those aspects. With only 10 days of my challenge left, I think that I will not stick to the restrictions on grains long term, but I will probably keep to the main principles and not feel that my meals have to be centered around a grain or a starch. I want to be able to eat bread or pasta on occasion and enjoy the occasional dessert indulgence. 🙂

I will not pretend that I will be able to post on a regular basis over the next few months, but just wanted to jump in and do a quick update while I have some time. I hope to at least write some race reports for the upcoming races, but life may have other plans.

The packing has begun. I got a lot done yesterday and even more done today. I’ve got one room mostly packed with just a few odds and ends left to take care of. I also started on a second room and have a huge pile of things to donate and three huge black trash bags full of garbage. Curtis also started packing the basement. We only have about 17 packing days left and I’ll be working 12 of those days. Crazy.

What with packing all day and a phone call that upset me a bit, I didn’t feel up to going to the gym. I am trying to have some genetic testing for a hereditary type of cancer that I am at risk for inheriting and the doctor’s office is not on top of things. I had to call the insurance company and speak someone who knew nothing about this specific test and I think he just told me what he thought I wanted to hear. Finally, I was able to find a number for someone at the insurance agency who deals with this test specifically, so I’m hoping that things will be ok. I’m waiting for some paperwork in the mail, but fingers-crossed things are taken care of now. I just want it to be over with and get the results!

Needless to say, I was a bit emotional yesterday and a workout probably would have made me feel better, but I opted to stay home and go to the gym this morning instead. Curtis and I both went to the gym and it was surprisingly busy for a Saturday morning, but fortunately, after our warm-ups both squat racks were available for use. I did NROLW Stage 5 Workout B:

I wanted to add another interval to the normal HIIT prescribed by NROLW. I needed more recovery than usual today and had to walk after the 3rd and 4th intervals. I think I may have been a bit dehydrated and that probably played a role. My heart rate got up to at least 200 bpm during the 3rd interval, so I made sure to recover to the 150s range before beginning the 4th and 5th.

I might break the rules and do another workout tomorrow evening. It will be more than 24 hours rest so I think it’ll be okay just this once. I’ll play it by ear tomorrow if I’m overly sore, but I expect I’ll be able to do the last workout A of the phase.

I apologize. I just realized that I never officially announced that I was accepted to veterinary school next year, so consider this that announcement. I will be starting at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine this fall semester! 🙂 Orientation is on August 17 and I have already had a crazy busy spring and summer with fun trips and preparation for the big move.

After my last (short) post, I had my last week of class at GMU and my final exam for my last prerequisite for vet school, Public Speaking. At the beginning of the semester I thought the class was going to be a real drag, but I am so glad that I took it. I learned a lot about speaking and writing speeches, and feel a lot more comfortable about the prospect of public speaking in the future. The purpose of our last speech was to persuade our classmates to make a donation to a charity and then everyone voted on the best speech, and I WON! I am so honored that they chose me, although I felt a little bad since I’m a bit older than most of them with a little more life experience and speaking experience (most of my classmates were freshman in college). I learned last week that I got an A+ in the class, so that means all my vet school prerequisites are fulfilled and it is official that I am enrolled for the fall!

May was relatively uneventful after the end of class on the 12th until I left for a trip to San Francisco and Sonoma with three of my girl friends on the 21st. We arrived relatively early on Saturday and spent the day at the Ghiradelli wine festival for wine tasting. Sunday morning, I went to an exercise class with one of the girls who lives in SF. It was a pilates-style class with springs and light weights. I really enjoyed it for trying something new, though I don’t think it’s something I would pursue to do regularly. I did get to break a nice sweat though! Also, on the agenda for Sunday was a Beer Circus at Lagunitas brewery in Petaluma. That was quite the interesting event. There were burlesque dancers and stunt roller skaters and lots of cross-dressing. Monday through Thursday, we spent in Sonoma wine tasting. This was definitely a food and beverage-driven vacation. We ate delicious food, drank very delicious wine (and some beer and other beverages) and just generally had a fabulous time catching up. I flew back home on Friday the 27th just in time to leave again on the 28th to head to Kansas.

The reason for the Kansas trip, you ask? Big news…drum roll please…..Curtis and I are buying our first house!! We have a contract on the house and will close at the end of the summer. We found it on our first day house-hunting over that Memorial Day weekend, despite almost crossing it off our list the day before. It is a new ranch-style house and will have four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a finished basement with a wet bar, a beautiful kitchen and a huge yard. I will post photos when it is officially official. I am SO excited. 🙂 Life has been a bit of a whirlwind since then.

We got back to Virginia on Tuesday 5/31, I was home for a week, then left again for a business trip in Orlando, FL. And that brings us up till now. I finished work early today, so I have a free day tomorrow and I’m planning to head to the beach for the day before my flight. I’ll be back in VA tomorrow by 9PM as long as my flight is on time.

Whew. Now that you’re all caught up on my life, if you’re still reading, I bet your wondering what this has to do with healthy living, working out, fitness, or triathlon training! Don’t worry, I didn’t forget that this is a triathlon training blog. 🙂

I have kept up with the New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROLW) weight lifting program and am up to Stage 5. I was hoping to complete two workouts while in Orlando, but unfortunately the hotel’s exercise room is a little lacking. I have done a tiny bit of body weight stuff instead, but I’ll start back with a workout when I get back. I’m thinking a schedule that looks like this:

Saturday, June 11 – Stage 5 Workout A2

Monday, June 13 – Stage 5 Workout B2 + HIIT

Wednesday, June 15 – Stage 5 Workout A3

Friday, June 17 – Stage 5 Workout B3 + HIIT

Sunday, June 19 – Stage 5 Workout A4

That will bring me back to my normal schedule of lifting on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Right about the time I finish this stage, and begin the next one (~June 23) I’ll be going out of town again. This time to Mississippi for a wedding, then straight from there to the Outer Banks for a beach trip with Curtis’s family. I’ll probably do some running and maybe bring my bike to do some riding. I really enjoyed riding in the mornings last year while training for Timberman.

Speaking of Timberman (you like that segue? 😉 ), I have it in my head to do another 70.3 race. A veterinary school classmate mentioned the possibility of doing Ironman 70.3 Branson in Missouri in September. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the prospect of another half-Ironman distance race since. I would only have about 15 weeks to prepare with a couple weeks of vacation, moving and the beginning of school in between. It’s doable, but do I want to? I might start training and make a last minute decision. I’ve already missed the discount cut-off, so it’ll be the same cost either way. There is also a Sprint on the same weekend that may be a viable option. I think my base will come back pretty quickly, but I’m not sure how much training time I’ll have once school starts and crunch time approaches. I’m also torn, because I really want to finish the NROLW through Stage 7 this time around and I don’t want to give it up in place of endurance training. Right now, I have the time for all of it (when I’m at home and not traveling!), but we’ll have to see as the summer progresses. Not sure I need to add another thing to my life right now. I am already pretty busy <- understatement of the year!

Woohoo! Another day of goals being met. I really think that writing them down and keeping them in my planner, which I obsessively examine every day, has helped tremendously in keeping them on the brain. I took the time to make myself some perfect scrambled eggs this morning and ate them with a piece of my mom’s zucchini bread. She makes the best zucchini bread ever, and we had just a little end leftover from the holidays for me to enjoy. I’m always tempted to make her recipe, but I’m afraid I won’t do it justice, so I’ve never gone through with it. She does not skimp on the spices, which I love, and it’s very moist and just melts in your mouth. Yummy!

This morning, I also managed to pack my bag to go to the gym today directly after work. There were no stops on the way today! I went straight to the gym and did my NROLW Stage 1 workout B routine.

The question mark on the wide grip lat pulldown is because the plates were marked 27.5, but it’s a new cable machine with double cables and I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t only 27.5 pounds total. Since last time I did this workout last week, I lifted 55 pounds, I’m pretty sure that’s what it was this time. The double cables must double the plate value? I’ll have to ask one of the trainers next time I see one wandering around. Today they were all busy with clients, and I didn’t want to interrupt.

For the Swiss Ball Crunch, I really should add a plate of weight. I did them with a very slow lowering phase today in order to make them a bit more difficult, and I actually ended up doing extras by accident. Next time I need to remember to add a weight plate to make them a bit tougher.

You can see how much strength I’ve lost on the deadlifts – I was deadlifting 100+ pounds when I stopped lifting early last year. I’m pretty confident I will gain the strength back fairly quickly, but it’s kind of disheartening to see. It definitely made me realize that I need to always keep some sort of maintenance lifting program as part of my training even if I feel like I don’t have time.

I’m going to try and do an easy run tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in another lifting day this week since I’ll be traveling Saturday – Monday. I expect to be able to blog throughout the weekend, so I should be able to check in and update on the outcome of my interview (Sunday). But on the off-chance that I’m too busy over the next few days (unlikely), I’ll definitely update on Monday with a goals check-in from this week and updated goals for next week. This week’s focus was clearly getting my butt back to the gym and begin getting back in the habit of workout out regularly. Next week’s focus is going to be getting my diet back on track. I’ve done a little of that this week, but afternoon snacking has been a little out of control. I need to make a plan to handle that.